By Bart Barry

Saturday in a Thomas & Mack Arena that was not sold out, American welterweight Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley and his new trainer, Teddy Atlas, combined to retire American Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios after dropping him twice, in round 9. The fight happened on HBO, a network that completed its three-year and 180-degree perspective-pivot on Bradley by celebrating Bradley’s new choice of trainer and Bradley’s new trainer with the enthusiasm of a rookie talent recruiter selling a prospect to Google.

Yes, the makeover is exaggerated, but let us play along for a couple reasons like: Tim’s a good guy, and we don’t have much of a choice because we’re going to be fed a Bradley-Atlas-union feast long after we push ourselves back from the table, hands waving in sated, otiose resistance.

If there’s a gigantic difference between the marketing of the Bradley-Atlas relationship and the Miguel Cotto-Freddie Roach relationship, it is not apparent. Both trainer narratives brought electrical charges to stalled products: Cotto, having been decisioned by Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout, was out of the pay-per-view business unless something more than cosmetic might be done. A few more tattoos, a lot more hotpink, a goofy boy friend’s weightloss, an unknown handler from Cuba, improved English – these were insubstantial product improvements when set against knockout losses to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao and a two-fight losing streak. Enter Coach Freddie: what chemistry! what trust! what rediscovery of the left hook! my goodness!

Those enhancements, along with an opponent on the downside of a six-loss career, and the new and improved product was done with infomercials and ready to ship. Cotto then blazed through the tissuepaper of Sergio Martinez’s knee(s), became the linear middleweight champion of the world and perfected his pronunciation of an English phrase he learned early in ESL tutelage: “A-side.” (The ‘SL’ in ESL may be inaccurate, we now learn: the nurses in the Rhode Island hospital where apparently El Gran Campeón Puertorriqueño was born surely brought English to the young man’s ears early.) All the Cotto product relaunch lacked was a mandatory title defense against a hopeless opponent, a chance to remind viewers Cotto reminded them of anyone from Mike Tyson to Benny Leonard, old timers, in other words, who reminded us of the old Miguel Cotto – neither the guy who took a knee against Margarito nor the guy pulped by Pacquiao but the warrior who cracked Paulie Malignaggi’s face – and Daniel “Real Deal” Geale strode on the set in June.

That match brought the hundredth or so chance for viewers to squint for insights at a fight whose outcome not one aficionado doubted. Anymore, an engaged aficionado, an endangered mammal whose ranks continue thinning as its hungerstrikers perish from malnourishment, gets encouraged by broadcasters to watch fights the way an NFL scout investigates combines or a Major Leaguer stares at his radar gun. Since the matchmaking and broadcasting are universally ironic – in the rhetorical sense of meaning other than what they state – aficionados, uniquely endowed with the talent and opportunities for cynicism, cynically derive from results whatever they expect to see.

It would be tragic if it were not, in its way, an intriguing adaptation: As if lifelong basketball fans deprived of watching their favorite NBA teams play one another derived, instead, fantasy basketball teams assembled according to height and vertical leap and whatever glowing commentary Charles Barkley had about players, and then set these fantasy teams loose on high school playgrounds, where they regularly mauled their teenage opponents, leaving the financially interested broadcasters of these contests to say of LeBron James dunking over a 5-foot-3 schoolboy freshman, “Looking at that dominant performance by James, one immediately thinks of Dr. J in the 1983 finals against the Lakers!”

Would such a derivative league survive? Doubtlessly it would. Would it thrive? Doubtlessly it wouldn’t.

None of this describes, quite, what happened Saturday, so much as it describes what might happen in Bradley’s next match, which will not be against Canelo Alvarez, of all absurd suggestions. Bradley beat down Rios more effectively than anticipated. But here we go again: Was Bradley disproportionately improved, or was Rios, career property of promoter Top Rank and its peerless matchmaking, disproportionately spent before the bell?

A quick memory might be instructive. The first time I interviewed Bob Arum, in 2004, I asked him if Top Rank could select a prospect on one criterion alone, what that criterion would be.

“Does he dissipate between fights?” said Arum immediately.

Setting aside how much smarter that answer is than what Richard Schaefer or any of Al Haymon’s subsequent puppets might say, it underlines boldly how closely Top Rank considers its fighters between matches, which is a roundabout way of imparting how unsurprised Top Rank likely was by how helpless Brandon Rios looked Saturday. That is not an indictment of Timothy Bradley or his new trainer. It really isn’t. They prepared for a much larger version of the Brandon Rios who, in 2011, blitzed both Miguel Acosta and Urbano Antillon, surely, and Bradley did in fact look better.

It’s a partial indictment, though, of the silliness that happened during the telecast, the spiraling embellishment that seems modern broadcasting’s default reaction to the predictable unevenness of uneven contests. Couched in the false humility of the conditional tense – could it be? would it have been? were it possible . . . – the intended seeding of the idea finds its roots and caretaking in whatever follows the humblefeint, slipping right past the viewer’s lowered guard. It’s not meanspirited mischief, no, but neither is it disinterested.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LAS VEGAS –Timothy Bradley promised a victory. He also promised a whole new animal.

He delivered on the victory Saturday night. But he didn’t have to be a new species. The old one — the Bradley of a few years ago — was enough.

A Bradley with resurrected skills and a new trainer, Teddy Atlas in his corner overwhelmed a shopworn Brandon Rios, who had neither the skill nor the energy to counter a disciplined jab, side-to-side movement and — in the end – a left hook.

The hook dropped Rios in the ninth round in what would be the first salvo in his imminent demise. Seconds after Rios got off his hands and knees, Bradley landed two body shots, first up the middle and then one to Rios’ side.

Rios didn’t get up this time. He was done, a loser by knockout at 2:49 of the ninth.

For Bradley, it played out exactly as planned. Atlas wanted him to be patient. He said he wanted Bradley to take a piece out of Rios, round by agonizing round. If there was a new animal in Bradley, it was a piranha, Atlas said.

“I just did what Teddy said,’’ said Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs), who put himself back in line for rematch with Manny Pacquiao, perhaps in April.

Speculation about Pacquiao is is bound to be rampant for the next couple of weeks. But jubilant Arum had no doubt that Bradley had re-emerged as one of Top Rank’s stars.

“The best Bradley I’ve ever seen,’’ Arum said.

The same couldn’t be said for Rios, whose career appeared to be at an end.

“I think I’m done,’’ Rios (33-3-1, 24 KOs) said.

Rios might have been weakened by a battle to make weight.

Two tenths of a pound aren’t much, but they were enough to make a weigh-in last an hour longer than it should have Friday.

Rios stepped on the scale once, stripped off his shorts behind a strategically placed sheet and stepped on the scale again. Once, twice, shorts on, shorts off and he was still two-tenths heavier than the 147-pound mandatory for his welterweight bout Saturday night against Timothy Bradley at Thomas & Mack Center.

For the next 60 minutes, Rios found a bathroom, stood around a hallway outside of a ballroom at The Wynn and then headed back to the scale. Once, twice, shorts on, shorts off and this time the two tenths were gone, presumably flushed from the proceedings.

Actually, Rios said he could have saved everybody a lot of time had he been allowed an extra minute or two. In so many words and more than a few expletives, he said he was trying to get rid of the two-tenths when he was called off the stool and onto the scale.

“There was no drama,’’ Rios said then. “I’m ready.’’

Rios’ face looked a little drawn after the weigh-in. He’s no stranger to off and on the scale controversies. As a lightweight, he missed weight twice. The move up to welter was supposed to make things easier.

But Rios has never been about easy.

Not easy on himself or anybody else, especially after a loss that could force him to flush a lot more than just two-tenths.

Lomachenko dominates in 10th-round KO

It was the Vasyl Lomachenko show.

Murata gains further experience, stays unbeaten

Featherweight Marriaga dominant in taking unanimous decision

Colombian featherweight Miguel Marriaga flashed his world -class credentials early and often with a patient and précise performance for which there was no argument.

Michael Reed scored seventh-round TKO

Power and angles were a double-edged combo that Maryland junior-welterweight Michael Reed employed relentlessly.

Ruthlessly, too.

In the end, all of it overwhelmed Rondale Hubbert (10-4-1,6 KOs), a Minneapolis fighter who was knocked down early in the seventh and left hanging on the ropes from a succession of punches from Reed (17-0, 10 KOs) midway through the round of the second bout on the Brandon Rios-Timothy Bradley card Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center. Referee Kenny Bayless, stepped in, ending it at 1:09 of the seventh.

One punch opened show.

Egidijus Kavaliauskas threw it.

One minute into the first round of the opening bout on the Timothy Bradley-Brandon Rios card, Kavaliauskas (10-0, 9 KOs), a two-time Olympian from Lithuania and welterweight prospect in trainer Robert Garcia gym, landed an overhand right, knocking out Jake Giuriceo (17-5-1, 4 KOs) of Struthers, Ohio.

LONDON (6 November) – World champion Tim Bradley has vowed to dazzle this Saturday night against big punching Brandon Rios under the tutelage of new trainer Teddy Atlas.

The 32-year-old star has claimed he is a much improved fighter since joining forces with Mike Tyson’s one-time cornerman and that he is unfazed at anything the relentless Rios will throw at him.

“I don’t care what Rios is doing in his camp. I am only concerned about what I am going to do on fight night. I am absolutely, totally focused. I am not the same fighter I was before,” said Bradley.

“When Teddy came to camp he challenged me, not what I could do physically but my mental aspect of fighting. When Teddy came to camp he took a book of images of certain rounds I had fought previously.

“There were notes about what I did right and what I did wrong. No trainer of mine has ever prepared for a fight like Teddy has for me against Rios,” he said.

Two-weight champion Bradley, who controversially beat Manny Pacquiao in their first meeting before losing the rematch, his only loss to date, knows exactly what Rios is going to bring to the ring ahead of their fight, exclusively live on BoxNation.

“Rios can bring on the pressure all night long and we will deal with it. We are prepared for intense pressure. The only chance Rios has is a lucky punch and that’s not going to happen.

“Teddy Atlas brought in two sparring partners who have put pressure on me every single second for the last three weeks. Rios is living on a prayer and he knows it,” Bradley said.

“My game plan is to stay totally focused for 36 minutes of fighting. Rios fights hard, is relentless, can endure pain and look for one shot to hurt me.

“I want this fight badly. I plan to keep it in control my way. Teddy is full of wisdom. Together we are going to win this big fight,” he said.

The respected Atlas is also backing his man to show his maturity in the ring as he takes the reins for their first fight together since Bradley released long-time trainer Joel Diaz.

“We looked at a lot of videos of Rios to take a look at how he moves and his tendencies. We are not concerned about what is happening in the Rios camp because I’ve seen fighters have bad camps and fight well and have seen fighters who had great camps not perform on fight night,” said Atlas.

“Tim did his job to prepare for Rios. He knows what it takes and what we have to do to win on Saturday. Tim is ready to fight. We both know what needs to be done – total focus for 12 complete rounds – to win this fight.”

Former lightweight world champion Rios though has other ideas as he comes off a blitzing third round win against the tough Mike Alvarado earlier year.

29-year-old Rios is known for his all-action style and is ready to claim his second world title against his fellow Californian.

“We are ready for the best Tim Bradley, the one who beat Juan Manuel Marquez. I have been in camp in Riverside, California for three months. This is the Camp Zone,” said Rios.

“We brought in three kinds of sparring partners – a boxer, a brawler and a boxer-brawler. I want to get back on top in boxing. Bradley is in my way. Bradley is going to be my ticket back to the top,” he said.

Bradley v Rios is live on BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD, Virgin 525, TalkTalk 415, online or app) this Saturday night. Visit boxnation.com to subscribe.

-Ends-
About BoxNation
BoxNation, the Channel of Champions and proud partner of Rainham Steel, is the UK’s first dedicated subscription boxing channel. For £12* a month and no minimum term customers can enjoy great value live and exclusive fights, classic fight footage, magazine shows and interviews with current and former fighters.

Previous highlights have included Haye vs Chisora, Khan vs Collazo and Mayweather vs Maidana.

The channel is available on Sky (Ch.437), Virgin (Ch.546), TalkTalk (Ch.415), online at Livesport.tv and via apps (ios, Android, Amazon). BoxNation is also available in high definition on Sky (Ch. 490), at no extra cost to Sky TV subscribers, providing they are already HD enabled.

BoxNation is also available to commercial premises (inc. pubs, clubs and casino’s) in the UK and Ireland, for more information on a commercial subscription please call 0844 842 7700.

For more information visit www.boxnation.com

*Plus £8 registration fee for Sky TV and new Livesport.tv customers.

By Norm Frauenhim–

A corner is Teddy Atlas’ bully pulpit. He once sat on Michael Moorer’s stool after a round midway through a 1994 bout with Evander Holyfield. Moorer looked down at Atlas in disbelief. At the start of the next round, however, Moorer believed.

Believed enough to win a narrow decision and a heavyweight title.

The dramatic gesture is always there, an over-the-top move perhaps, yet a tactic played as well as any by Atlas. It doesn’t always work. The relationship between trainer and fighter is all about chemistry, a periodic table of personality traits and emotional elements. Sometimes, it just blows up.

Will it work between Atlas and Timothy Bradley? It’ll have to. There’s no chance to test it. Or if there was, Atlas and Bradley decided to forgo it and instead chose to march straight into harm’s way Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center against Brandon Rios, whose stubborn pressure and relentless energy are bound to subject the new found union to stress that can break it.

Atlas and Bradley said all the right things Wednesday in a conference call before their formal arrival at The Wynn, the home casino for the HBO-televised bout (9:30 p.m. ET/PT). Atlas preached and Bradley talked with the conviction of a welterweight who has been resurrected to be better than ever.

“A whole different animal,’’ said Bradley, who about two months ago split with Joel Diaz, his only pro trainer before he called Atlas.

Bradley, always likable and credible, was convincing. But a fair judgment awaits an opening bell and that first big punch.

“He’s going to tell you after the fight,’’ Rios trainer Robert Garcia said.

The deal between Bradley and Atlas is an acknowledgement of that reality. The two have a fight-to-fight agreement. There’s nothing long-term, not for them or – for that matter – Rios, who concedes his career is at the make-or-break stage.

Betting odds suggest that Atlas and Bradley will be together for more than just one training camp. When the fight was announced, Bradley was about a 5-to-1 favorite. The guess is that his overall skill will prevail against Rios, whom Bradley calls one-dimensional.

The question, however, is whether Bradley has seen his best days. He survived Ruslan Provodnikov’s concussive punches in the 2013 Fight of the Year. But at what price? Signs of possible wear and tear were there when he got wobbled in the final seconds of a one-sided decision over Jessie Vargas in his last outing.

But was that just a careless moment or another in a long succession of big punches at the end of Bradley’s career? Undisciplined or vulnerable? From Atlas’ perspective, it’s just been matter of absorbing too many big blows.

Atlas, ever the preacher, calls them mortal sins. Too many of them, and Bradley’s money-making days will be condemned to a premature end.

“He has to quit taking those big shots, quit committing those mortal sins,’’ said Atlas, the ESPN analyst who says he agreed to work with Bradley in part because the 32-year-old welterweight still wants to learn. “We can live with the menial ones.’’

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Two tenths of a pound aren’t much, but they were enough to make a weigh-in last an hour longer than it should have Friday.

Brandon Rios stepped on the scale once, stripped off his shorts behind a strategically placed sheet and stepped on the scale again. Once, twice, shorts on, shorts off and he was still two-tenths heavier than the 147-pound mandatory for his welterweight bout Saturday night against Timothy Bradley at Thomas & Mack Center.

For the next 60 minutes, Rios found a bathroom, stood around a hallway outside of a ballroom at The Wynn and then headed back to the scale. Once, twice, shorts on, shorts off and this time the two tenths were gone, presumably flushed from the proceedings.

Actually, Rios said he could have saved everybody a lot of time had he been allowed an extra minute or two. In so many words and more than a few expletives, he said he was trying to get rid of the two-tenths when he was called off the stool and onto the scale.

“There was no drama,’’ Rios said. “I’m ready.’’

Rios’ face looked a little drawn after the weigh-in, which included Vasyl Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs) and Romulo Koasicha (25-4, 15 KOs) both at 125.6 pounds for a WBO featherweight title fight. He’s no stranger to off and on the scale controversies. As a lightweight, he missed weight twice. The move up to welter was supposed to make things easier.

But Rios has never been about easy.

On himself or anybody else.

With his career at a crossroads, Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) is expected to make things difficult for the favored Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) in an HBO-televised bout (9:30 p.m. ET/PT) that was officially sanctioned as a World Boxing Organization title fight.

His tireless pressure figures to test Bradley, who was at a business-like 146 pounds. For Bradley, the bout is his first with trainer Teddy Atlas. Bradley had spent his entire pro career with Joel Diaz. They knew each other instinctively, almost like father and son. What happens when Rios lands his first big punch? How will Bradley respond to adversity when he sees a different face, Atlas instead of Diaz, in his corner?

That looms as the bout’s key question. If Bradley has the right answer, Rios will wind up flushing a lot more than just two-tenths.

One of the sport’s best fighters returns to the ring to battle one of the game’s most popular sluggers when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: TIMOTHY BRADLEY JR. VS. BRANDON RIOS AND VASYL LOMACHENKO VS. ROMULO KOASICHA is presented SATURDAY, NOV. 7 at 9:30 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside to call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: Nov. 8 (9:30 a.m.) and 9 (11:45 p.m.)

HBO2 playdate: Nov. 10 (11:00 p.m.)

Timothy Bradley Jr. (32-1-1, 12 KOs), from Palm Springs, Cal., takes on hard-hitting Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs) of Oxnard, Cal., in a scheduled 12-round welterweight championship contest. One of the sport’s most accomplished pros, Bradley, 32, has earned acclaim for his willingness to take on any challenge. His sterling record includes two Manny Pacquiao fights and notable wars with Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov. Bradley began his 2015 season with a victory over Jessie Vargas in June, when he claimed a 147-pound title belt. He returns to Las Vegas with veteran Teddy Atlas as his new trainer.

Brandon Rios, 29, trains with Robert Garcia in the boxing hotbed of Oxnard, Cal., and looks to secure a second world title in as many weight divisions. He became one of the top attractions in the 140-pound weight class by brawling and slugging his way to signature wins, including two over archrival Mike Alvarado. The contrasting styles of Bradley and Rios have experts and fans anticipating an all-action affair.

Opening the telecast, world featherweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs) of Odessa, Ukraine, meets challenger Romulo Koasicha (25-4, 14 KOs) of San Luis Potosi, Mexico in a 12-round, 126-pound clash. Koasicha, 24, has a huge advantage in professional experience, but Lomachenko, 27, is widely regarded as one of the top amateur boxers ever, having captured gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Although he has had only five pro bouts, Lomachenko should prove a fearless competitor.

Immediately following the live boxing coverage, HBO presents episode #1 of 24/7 Cotto/Canelo at 11:45 p.m. (ET/PT).

Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.

All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.

The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Johnathan Evans.

® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

Timothy Bradley Jr., Greatest Hits
Link: https://youtu.be/hAUqjc5VPrU
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Brandon Rios Greatest Hits
Link: https://youtu.be/G1A5nk_vPek
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Hey Harold!: Bradley vs. Rios
Link: https://youtu.be/-1t7ewWMDTw
Embed:

By Bart Barry–

Saturday at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, American welterweights Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios will compete for a world title of some sort and, more importantly, for a chance to be their division’s premier b-side attraction – as friend and colleague Norm Frauenheim insightfully put it Friday. While neither guy sees himself as a gatekeeper – Bradley, in fact, has a loose argument for IBHOF induction someday – no one in the sport sees either guy as the world’s best welterweight, though, again, Bradley has a loose argument for that distinction too.

But finally, an honest prizefight. It has been that long, so long in fact this one almost misses us gazing desperately towards Canelo-Cotto while wondering how to compose a eulogy for Ken Hersman’s career at HBO. There has been, and will continue to be, a want of eulogizing for Hershman because, frankly, we’re not qualified to pen eulogies, little as most of us have minded his career at HBO. Consider this, then, an impressionistic portrait by a writer too uninterested to check dates and figures.

Hershman came to HBO sometime after Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander made a disappointment of a match in Pontiac Silverdome, then auditioning for world’s largest empty refrigerator, a disastrous show so poorly attended the HBO broadcast trucks, like the one racing at you in those intro cartoons, parked in the middle of the floor, and even by stuffing the fight in a back corner and closingoff the mezzanine, they still couldn’t make the arena look more than 1/10 full because it wasn’t 1/15 full. Legend has it a few HBO VIPs showed up for that disaster, and after recovering from frostbite set about a plot to fire the man who lost Manny Pacquiao to Showtime for a night (the one in which Pacquiao eradicated world poverty by wearing yellow gloves, historians will recall).

Uninspired to do more than rebuild slowly and cheaply, HBO hired Showtime’s guy, who had fought a marvelous insurgency in the preceding years and made Showtime the destination network for serious fans while HBO lazily tended its starsystem. Maligned as it was by misfortune and miscreants, Hershman’s Super Six tournament was a wonderful thing whose ultimate winners, Andre Ward and Ken Hershman and Carl Froch, did quite well for themselves immediately afterwards. Froch is now retired, Hershman is about to be retired, and Ward continues a halfassed comeback from semiretirment – so nothing, as the saying goes, is permanent.

But whatever innovative spirit Hershman had at Showtime, not an innovative thing was done during his time at HBO, unless discovering Eurasia 20 years after the Soviet Union’s collapse should be called revolutionary. Hershman fired Al Haymon and his lackey Richard Schaefer and Schaefer’s spokesman, Oscar De La Hoya, in a move more memorable for spite than creativity: Hersman did not clear away dead underbrush from the calendar, allowing bold, suppressed ideas to spring forth, so much as he avenged his predecessor and sent Haymon to a much wealthier benefactor with whose capital Haymon, a vindictive pacifist, has smothered boxing to critical condition. Hershman is not to blame for Haymon’s ascent; Haymon is a force of nature, where men like Hershman, and the guy who replaced him at Showtime, are lawerly bureaucrats, not entrepreneurs.

Perhaps HBO’s culture is to blame, in part, while we’re introspecting. Fighters, not fights, drive HBO’s starsystem, a philosophy that manifests itself as a panicked paralysis whenever anointed stars like Nonito Donaire get outclassed by men whose superior skills somehow elude HBO’s staff of talentscouts and matchmakers. Whoever replaces Hershman should move first to acquire a professional matchmaker or two – boxing guys, outsiders who drink too much and dress like slobs, not television guys, not aspiring runway models, not writers-cum-publicists, not lawyers from Harvard or Yale, but men with real contacts lists, real shortnotice talent, real chemistry with prizefighters of all skill levels, and decades, not months, of experience – and enable him- or herself to dictate intelligent terms to serious outfits like Top Rank and Main Events and K2, treating them as suppliers, not partners.

There’s a shortage of talent in prizefighting at this time, and HBO’s next generation of broadcasters should realize this and not hardsell us on historic championship runs like Wladimir Klitschko’s or Gennady Golovkin’s – runs even casual fans know are meaningless. Whoever replaces Hershman, s/he should dictate terms in the negotiation, request a bold budget, request increased latitude, request a brand new team, pause to accept whatever’s offered and not act merely thrilled to be picked. A person who does this likely will find s/he doesn’t jibe with HBO’s current culture and turn down the job. A few incidents like that and perhaps the culture will see a need to change, maybe even deciding our sport is not worth the hassle that broadcasting it brings. Boxing will find a way to struggle along, regardless.

Whatever hassles soon get brought, know this: Bradley-Rios deserves your viewership. These are two honest prizefighters who are, for once, evenly matched. Neither belongs at welterweight: Bradley moved up to make more money, and Rios moved up because his offseason diet makes weighing 135 pounds or 140 impossible. Both are worn by experience, both were fed to Manny Pacquiao for different reasons, and Bradley proved to be the considerably less-digestible dish. Bradley decisioned Pacquiao, and many have not forgiven him for it, despite his acquiescent performance in their rematch. Rios lost to Pacquiao more predictably and lopsidedly than anyone save Chris Algieri. Bradley is a better athlete and a better fighter than Rios, but then, so was Mike Alvarado a better athlete and better fighter than Rios, and Rios beat him down twice.

Bradley has a new trainer, the philosopher poet Teddy Atlas, but what Bradley needed and probably still needs is a technician who tells him to lower his chin and move his head, not a motivational speaker who steels his resolve in a crisis. Bradley manages crises better than anyone currently plying the craft; he needs help navigating round them, not navigating through them.

Still, I’ll take Bradley, SD-12, in an excellent and honest prizefight.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LONDON (18 September) – The scintillating showdown between reigning welterweight world champion Timothy Bradley and the all-action Brandon Rios will be screened exclusively live on BoxNation on November 7th.

The pair collide at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas in an explosive contest for Bradley’s WBO title that is guaranteed to have fight fans on the edge of their seats.

The ‘Channel of Champions’, BoxNation, through their exclusive output deal with leading promoters Top Rank, will once again bring boxing lovers another thrilling clash to add to a mightily impressive upcoming schedule.

BoxNation has already confirmed a host of live fights including Miguel Cotto’s superfight with Canelo Alvarez, Lucas Matthysse against Viktor Postol, the meeting between knockout kings Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux and next Saturday Frank Buglioni’s world title shot against champion Fedor Chudinov.

The meeting between two-time champion Bradley and former world champion Rios fits in nicely to the stacked BoxNation schedule, with both men having fought in Fights of the Year in 2013 and 2012, respectively, as they look to end this year on a similar high.

“I am excited to get back into the ring on November 7th against a very game and very dangerous Brandon Rios,” said Bradley. “I know that Rios is dedicated to giving the fans what they pay for and so am I. I guarantee you that the Thomas and Mack Center will once again deliver a great event.”

“We’ve been looking for a big fight and at last we have it. I’ll be ready,” Rios said.

“If I was going to come back to train a fighter, it was going to be one who had shown character in and out of the ring just like Tim Bradley,” said Teddy Atlas, Bradley’s new trainer.

“Fighting for the world welterweight championship is the most important thing in this fight plus I know Rios and Bradley will give the fans one of the best fights of the year. Both Bradley and Rios are warriors and will give the fans what they want to see. Thanks to Team Bradley for taking this fight. Let’s go out and give Southern California a fight that fans will never forget,” said Robert Garcia, chief trainer for Rios.

Also on the fight card will be one of boxing’s rising superstars with two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko defending his WBO featherweight world title against top-ten world-rated contender Romulo Koasicha of Mexico.

Jim McMunn, BoxNation Managing Director, said: “This is a really exciting clash to add to the busy BoxNation schedule over the next few months. We are very pleased to bring BoxNation subscribers top fight after top fight and Timothy Bradley against Brandon Rios has the potential to steal the show from what is a jam-packed calendar of live world class matchups on the channel. We always aim to deliver the very best fights around at the best value so are delighted to do that once again through our exclusive output deal with Top Rank.”

To subscribe to BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD, Virgin 525, TalkTalk 415, online or app) for only £12 a month visit boxnation.com.

-Ends-
About BoxNation
BoxNation, the Channel of Champions and proud partner of Rainham Steel, is the UK’s first dedicated subscription boxing channel. For £12* a month and no minimum term customers can enjoy great value live and exclusive fights, classic fight footage, magazine shows and interviews with current and former fighters.

Previous highlights have included Haye vs Chisora, Khan vs Collazo and Mayweather vs Maidana.

The channel is available on Sky (Ch.437), Virgin (Ch.546), TalkTalk (Ch.415), online at Livesport.tv and via apps (ios, Android, Amazon). BoxNation is also available in high definition on Sky (Ch. 490), at no extra cost to Sky TV subscribers, providing they are already HD enabled.

BoxNation is also available to commercial premises (inc. pubs, clubs and casino’s) in the UK and Ireland, for more information on a commercial subscription please call 0844 842 7700.

For more information visit www.boxnation.com

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Two-division world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY JR. and former world champion BRANDON “Bam Bam” RIOS, both who have fought in Fights of the Year in 2013 and 2012, respectively, will collide for Bradley’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight world championship crown in an all-Southern California showdown. Bradley vs. Rios will take place on Saturday, November 7, at the Thomas & Mack Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. and will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will open with two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist VASYL LOMACHENKO, defending his WBO featherweight world title against Top-10 world-rated contender ROMULO KOASICHA of Mexico.

These four warriors boast a combined record of 93-8-2 (51 KOs) — a winning percentage of 90% with over half of their victories coming by way of knockout.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with the Wynn Las Vegas and Tecate, tickets to the Bradley vs. Rios world welterweight championship event go on sale Tomorrow! Thursday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. PT. Priced at $400, $250, $150, $100 and $50, tickets may be purchased at the Thomas & Mack Center Box Office, online at http://www.unlvtickets.com/, at UNLVtickets Outlet Town Square Las Vegas and La Bonita Supermarkets. To charge by phone call 702-739-FANS (3267) or 866-388-FANS (3267).

“I am excited to get back into the ring on November 7th against a very game and very dangerous Brandon Rios,” said Bradley. “I know that Rios is dedicated to giving the fans what they pay for and so am I. I guarantee you that the Thomas and Mack Center will once again deliver a great event.”

“We’ve been looking for a big fight and at last we have it. I’ll be ready,” Rios.

“If I was going to come back to train a fighter, it was going to be one who had shown character in and out of the ring just like Tim Bradley,” said Teddy Atlas, Bradley’s new trainer.

“Fighting for the world welterweight championship is the most important thing in this fight plus I know Rios and Bradley will give the fans one of the best fights of the year. Both Bradley and Rios are warriors and will give the fans want they want to see. Thanks to Team Bradley for taking this fight. Let’s go out and give Southern California a fight that fans will never forget,” said Robert Garcia, chief trainer for Rios.

“The battle between Bradley and Rios should be a real classic as both fighters give it their all in the ring. Without a doubt this will be a candidate for the Fight of the Year,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank.

“In one of the fall’s biggest fights, with two impressive careers defined by unbreakable wills on the line, Timothy Bradley Jr. faces Brandon Rios on November 7 to see whose grit is the truest,” said HBO Sports Vice President of Programming Peter Nelson. “The Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas is a venue rich in history and HBO is privileged to broadcast the event for our World Championship Boxing franchise.”

“Wynn Las Vegas is pleased to once again partner with Top Rank to bring this anticipated event to Las Vegas,” said Maurice Wooden, president of Wynn Las Vegas. “All eyes will be on Bradley and Rios as they battle for the World Welterweight Title.”

Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs), from Palm Springs, Calif., a two-division world champion who has held a world title every year since 2008, completed his comeback from his sole professional loss, to Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao in their world title rematch and a controversial draw against former interim world champion Diego Chaves — both in 2014 — when he beat undefeated world champion Jessie Vargas on June 27, to reclaim the WBO welterweight world title. A consensus Top-10 pound for pound fighter, Bradley returns to the ring in his second stint as welterweight world champion with a new trainer in Teddy Atlas. A former junior welterweight world champion who unified the junior welterweight titles twice during his previous four-year reign, Bradley moved up to the 147 pound division and beat Pacquiao on June 9, 2012 to capture the WBO welterweight crown for the first of three consecutive career-best victories. Bradley followed that by co-starring in the Fight of the Year on March 16, 2013, at StubHub Center, winning a brutal 12-round decision over future world champion Ruslan Provodnikov though Bradley was suffering from a concussion throughout most of the fight. Seven months later Bradley encored with another virtuoso performance in defeating three-division world champion and Mexican icon Juan Manuel Márquez on October 12, 2013, proving that Bradley is indeed one of boxing’s elite pound for pound fighters.

Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs), the former World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight champion, from Oxnard, Calif., is on the hunt for his second world title in as many weight divisions. Fourteen of his last 18 victories have come by way of knockout. One of boxing’s most exciting fighters, Rios is known for his all-action fan-friendly fighting style. His trainer, former International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion and 2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia, calls it a “throwback” style with a warrior’s mentality that screams excitement. Highlight knockout victories on Rios’ resume include Miguel Acosta, Anthony Peterson, Urbano Antillon, John Murray and Mike Alvarado (twice). Alvarado, the natural 140-pounder, entered that fight as the undefeated WBO No. 1 junior welterweight contender. Many consider it 2012’s Fight of the Year. In their exciting rematch, which took place on March 30, 2013, Rios lost a close decision for the vacant WBO interim junior welterweight title. It was considered a finalist for the 2013 Fight of the Year award. After losing a unanimous decision to Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao, on November 24, 2013, which headlined a pay-per-view event that emanated from Macau, China, Rios returned to the winner’s circle on August 2, 2014, winning a gritty, foul-filled battle against former interim world welterweight champion Diego Chaves, via a ninth-round disqualification. In his last fight, on January 24, Rios stopped Alvarado in the sixth round of the rubber match of their exciting trilogy, in Alvarado’s hometown of Denver to put himself back into position for a world title shot.

The greatest amateur boxer of his era and arguably of all time, two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs), of Odessa, captured the vacant WBO featherweight title on June 21, 2014, winning a scintillating majority decision over the previously unbeaten Gary Russell Jr. It was Lomachenko’s third professional bout, tying him with Thailand’s Saensak Muangsurin for fewest fights to win a world title. Muangsurin won a junior welterweight title in 1975, also in his third professional fight. Russell, a former U.S. Olympian, was totally blitzed by Lomachenko, battered around the ring throughout the fight. From the outset of his professional career, Lomachenko made it known that he was ready for the best in his division. He made his professional debut in 2013 knocking out the WBO’s No. 7-rated featherweight contender Jose Luis Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) in the fourth round of a bout that was scheduled for 10. Less than five months later, on March 1, 2014, in his second professional bout, he challenged WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido, losing a split decision to the heavier defending champion whose title had been stripped because he could not make the weight limit. Since winning the world title, Lomachenko has successfully defended it twice, winning a 12-round unanimous decision on November 23, 2015, against No. 1 contender Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (51-1, 33 KOs) and a ninth-round knockout of Gamalier Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KOs) on the undercard of the May 2 Floyd Mayweather – Manny Pacquiao extravaganza. Lomachenko first gained international renown by winning gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games as a featherweight and a lightweight, respectively.

Koasicha (24-4, 14 KOs), from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, has won eight of his last 10 fights with five of those victories coming by way of knockout fight. A two-time USNBC featherweight champion, the only blemishes on his record during that span were 12-round decision losses to future world champion Lee Selby last year and Jesus Galicia in 2013. In his last bout, on July 24, Koasicha captured the vacant Mexican featherweight crown via an impressive seventh-round TKO of Guillermo “Borrego” Avila in Mexico City. Koasicha is currently world-rated No. 8 by the WBO and No. 9 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the hashtag #BradleyRios to join the conversation on Twitter.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBO Welterweight champion Timothy Bradley will take on Brandon Rios on November 7 at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas.

The could be a slight hurdle as Sadam Ali, the WBO top-contender must take a step aside deal in order for the fight be a title fight.

“We’re confident it will all work out in the end and all parties will be satisfied,” said Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com.

“I am excited to get back into the ring on Nov. 7 against a very game and very dangerous Brandon Rios,” Bradley said. “I know that he is dedicated to giving the fans what they pay for. So am I. I guarantee you that the Thomas & Mack Center will once again deliver a great match.”

Said Rios: “We’ve been looking for a big fight and at last we have it. I’ll be ready.”

“This is a great between two of the best welterweights in the world and they both have big names,” said Cameron Dunkin, Rios’ manager and Bradley’s former manager. “They’ve fought everybody. They’re both very experienced. It’s a fight that everybody is talking about and wants to see, so I am really, really excited about the matchup. Brandon is very focused on this.”

“Timothy Bradley has been around for a long time. He fought Pacquiao twice and no matter what happened the first time, if it was controversial or not, he beat him. He won. He got the title,” Rios, who lost a lopsided decision to Pacquiao in 2013 in Macau, China and then tested positive for a banned substance, said of Bradley’s massively disputed split decision win against Pacquiao in 2012. “It’s an honor to get back in the spotlight and fight a great champion.”

“As long as I get a fight, I don’t care,” Rios said. “It’s great to be fighting for a title but I don’t really care. Either way I will train my ass off and take it as a title fight because Bradley is a legit fighter and he will come to fight, especially when you put the pressure on him. When you put pressure on him, like I will do, the fighter in him will come out.”

“I didn’t care who I was going to fight. I was just happy Top Rank got me a fight after Alvarado. I didn’t care who it was,” Rios said. “It was very frustrating. I’m so pissed off, but at the end of the day I can’t let it affect me, and I can’t think about it. But I’m mad and I’m disappointed with Top Rank with the way they came about the business. Bob Arum told me after the Alvarado fight I’d be back in June and then nothing happened. It sucks the way it worked out. I like to stay active, especially after a great performance against Alvarado.”

“Offers for other fights were made to Rios and his team that were declined,” Moretti said. “Now he has as big a fight as there is, which is what his focus is on now, I hope.”

“I will be well prepared again for this big opportunity,” he said. “I’m back to my old days — happy training, hungry. I made a lot of money at a young age out of nowhere and I got a little cocky. Good thing I learned that before it was too late. You’ll see me like against Bradley the way I was against Alvarado in the third fight.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, two-division world champion Timothy Bradley has split with longtime trainer Joel Diaz.

“After his last fight, I have not heard from Tim at all. He never answered my calls or anything,” Diaz said. “Then last week, he came to the gym. He said he wanted to talk to me. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ What he said was his manager had other plans and I am not part of those plans. He tried to make some excuses, like I was doing something wrong. I said, ‘I’ve known you for a long time, you’re like my brother, but right now it’s out of your control. Your wife took over your career.’

“He said he would think about it. When they were negotiating the [Brandon] Rios fight, I was calling him to see what was going on. I had to go around him and call his father so his father can contact him because I don’t even think he had a phone no more. I sensed something was going on. His wife got so involved. She didn’t want me involved in the camp.”

“He told me the last few fights things were not the same,” Diaz said. “He was upset because I would leave camp for a day or two sometimes to be with my other fighters at fights. That is my job, but I always put Tim first. I said, ‘Tim, that’s not you talking. It’s people in your ear who you live with. If we’re going to work together let me know.’ He said he would think about it, and two days later [on Sunday], he called and left a message and said he would move on and he would find another trainer.

“I couldn’t even call him. I had to go through Monica. It became an issue of his manager taking over everything. She wanted to have control and power over everything. Look, Timothy is a great guy. He has a big heart, but he has people putting things in his head. I trained this kid his whole career. Monica was really cool at first, but the switch came when she became the manager. She’d come to the gym and try to control the training. I was feeling uncomfortable. It was weird. I never had a problem with Monica, never had an argument with her.”

“I told him when he came to the gym [last week], ‘The problem is not you. I know you from the heart. You are overpowered. You gave somebody too much authority of your life,'” Diaz said. “And I said, ‘Good luck, champ.’ Even if I’m not with him I will be at his next fight and I will root for him. I have no hard feelings, but I’m going to move on.”

“It’s my call. Ain’t nobody make me do anything,” Bradley said. “I did it because I felt it needed to be done. A real man wouldn’t even blame a woman or my wife. My wife didn’t speak to Joel. I spoke to Joel. I told him what was going on.

“At the end of the day, I don’t trust him. What’s the point of being with him if you don’t trust him? If there’s no trust, then there’s no relationship.”

“Go back to the Jessie Vargas fight and go see if Joel Diaz is in the ring with me at the end of the fight,” Bradley said. “He left. Right before they announced me as winner, he just left me. He didn’t stick around for me. When we had the conversation, I asked him about it. ‘Dude, you showed me you don’t even care about me.’ The answer was he was pissed off about something else somebody did on the team and decided to leave the ring.

“I was like, ‘We’ve been together for like 10 years and you’re going to just walk away? Stand by me, bro. If it’s so easy for you to leave me like that, then it’s easy to leave anytime.’ I questioned if he cared for me.”

“He blamed my wife, but I’ve been thinking about this since the fight. I’m a loyal guy, but I kept a lot of things in and I accepted a lot of things, but after so long being Mr. Nice Guy, I had to do this because some things were bothering me.”

“I give the OK on everything,” Bradley said. “My wife is there to protect me, but it’s my decision. I make the decisions because I have to live the decisions. I don’t like that he blamed my wife.”

“I’m gonna talk to my wife and see when can we get them out to work with me,” Bradley said of them coming to his hometown of Palm Springs, California. “I’ll be fighting end of the year and I need to get someone in here.”

“Good things come to an end. It’s not a bad thing,” Bradley said. “I’m looking for change. A lot of guys change trainers. It’s nothing bad about Joel. Sometimes you just need a change. We won five world championships together. I would love to remain friends. Don’t want to make this ugly. It’s just business. I really like the guy a lot.”

Las Vegas (Aug. 20, 2015) – Five-Time World Champion Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley has confirmed that he will appear and have a booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the second annual Box Fan Expo that will take place Saturday Sept.12, 2015. The Boxing Expo will coincide with the Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto championship fight, which will take place later that evening, along with Mexican Independence weekend.

Tickets to the Box Fan Expo are available online at: http://BoxFanExpo.eventbrite.com.

The current title holder, Bradley is a two-time WBO welterweight champion; he is also a two-time WBC junior welterweight champion and lastly the former WBO junior welterweight champion. Bradley is trained by former title contender Joel Diaz. He holds wins over world champions Manny Pacquaio, Juan Manuel Marquez, Devon Alexander and Ruslan Provodnikov.

Bradley will also have on hand his “B” Desert Storm brand of clothing for fans to purchase and enjoy.

Bradley joins Roberto Duran, Zab Judah, James Toney, Sergio Martinez, Shawn Porter, Mia St. John, Terry Norris, Joel Casamayor, Fernando Vargas, Ruslan Provodnikov, the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Association (WBA) among early commitments to this year’s Box Fan Expo.

This unique fan experience event, which allowed fans to meet and greet boxing legends, past and current champions and other celebrities of the sport, debuted last September. This year the Expo will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and once again, allow fans a chance to collect autographs, take photos and purchase merchandise and memorabilia.

Exhibitors such as boxing gear, apparel, broadcasting media and other brand companies who wish to participate will have a chance to showcase their products to fans and the whole boxing industry.

Last year’s inaugural Box Fan Expo featured some of the most popular fighters and boxing celebrities in recent history. Fans were treated to visits with Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr, Martinez, Amir Khan, Zab Judah, Mikey Garcia,Toney, Riddick Bowe, Leon Spinks Terry Norris, Porter, Chris Byrd, Jesse James Leija ,Lamon Brewster, Ray Mercer, Earnie Shavers, St-John, Erislandy Lara, Quillin, Jean Pascal and Austin Trout. Also appearing were current WBC Champion Deontay Wilder, the charismatic Vinny Pazienza, Paul Williams, noted commentator Al Bernstein and trainer Roger Mayweather of Mayweather Promotions.

The roster of attendees for this year’s Box Fan Expo will be announced throughout the next several weeks leading up to the event.

For anyone in the boxing industry or brand companies who wish to be involved and reserve a booth as an exhibitor or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Box Fan Expo at:

U.S.A telephone number: (702) 997-1927 or (514) 572-7222

For any inquiries please email: boxfanexpo@gmail.com

More information on the Box Fan Expo is available at: http://www.boxfanexpo.com

To watch Tim Bradley video about Box Fan Expo go to: http://goo.gl/u3KeUP

View the official promo video of Box Fan Expo here: http://www.boxfanexpo.com/video-2/

You can follow Box Fan Expo on Twitter at: https://www.twitter.com/BoxFanExpo and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/BoxFanExpo

By Bart Barry-

DALLAS – Four miles southeast of this city’s downtown center stands Gexa Energy Pavilion, a 20,000-seat outdoor amphitheater whose stage Friday hosted a deep roster of pioneers in a musical genre then-known as rap – as in Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” – and now known as hip-hop. For those enchanted by the seedling genre in its great years, 1985-1992, Friday was an ecstasy of nostalgia and enduring craftsmanship.

Would that welterweight Timothy Bradley’s decision victory over Jessie Vargas Saturday night in Carson, Calif., kindled such praise, but when a referee marks the first interview conducted after a sporting event of any kind, one can safely assume that event disappointed spectators. So it went with Bradley-Vargas 1, a middling affair until the final moments, when Bradley ran himself into a Vargas righthand, got buckled, staggered a bit, held on, and made it to referee Pat Russell’s chosen stopping place, which as everyone now has been told a dozen times and as many different ways, was not on the 3:00 mark.

The idea Bradley – who pedaled himself unconsciously through about 11 rounds with Ruslan Provodnikov, and managed to remain conscious, too, for a combined 36 rounds across from Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez – was but one blow from being stopped by a career junior welterweight with nine knockouts in 26 prizefights, in his debut at 147 pounds, is quite nearly absurd. But as neither HBO nor promoter Top Rank has an idea what to do with Bradley, still, a rematch birthed by a controversy inspired by true events is the best idea currently in the offing. One no longer pities Bradley quite deeply as he did in the aftermath of the Provodnikov match, when Bradley dutifully shortened his own life with a heroic apology for decisioning Pacquiao and thereby sabotaging in 2012 (until Marquez did it perfectly six months later, and Top Rank subsequently and effortfully resurrected Pacquiao) the Fight to Save Boxing, which did quite the opposite this May.

Bradley is not a welterweight, whatever says the thickening of his physique, and his lack of welterweight power manifests itself in two obvious ways. Firstly, in seven matches, Bradley has yet to knock-out, or even knock-down, anyone as a welterweight – despite hurling himself awkwardly enough at every opponent to ruin feet and ankles, and perform what could only be called a contortionist feat on the blue mat against Provodnikov th’t yogis, to this day, cannot replicate. And secondly, that Bradley loses his balance so often, and badly, by overcommitting to punches that barely dent or mark the men he strikes flush with them.

The move that causes Bradley the most trouble is his orphan-the-children righthand that, when it misses, finds him fully crossed-over and pointedly aware of how precariously he’s mispositioned himself. Generally, after the righthand misses, Bradley sets his eyes on the tops of his own shoes, hopes not to get hit, returns his weight to his left foot (now his back foot), and quickly uncrosses his legs. He’s an elite athlete, even among what elite athletes make their livings in prizefighting, and that athleticism, once a fundamental hindrance, most likely, a hindrance to his adoption of boxing fundamentals, is now what allows him to do well as he does.

Jessie Vargas, too, exceeded expectations, Saturday, offering a competitive opponent to Bradley, and making the final minute of the fight more interesting than its 35 predecessors. Vargas certainly did not win, and were there a feasible or even novel opponent for Bradley, victory over Vargas would be declared and boxing would move on without a rematch at the end of the year, but as there is not, Unfinished will become Business’s modifier, and a more-tentative Timothy Bradley will outbox Vargas by wide margins whenever the rematch happens.

There was a two-year stretch in which I attended three-of-four Bradley matches, in Las Vegas, and yet it didn’t cross my mind to attend Saturday’s tilt. Why not? Two reasons, again: Firstly, Timothy Bradley, while remaining a model citizen and fighter boxing would be well-advised to replicate a few hundred times, is not always enthralling to watch, and the higher his weight climbs, the more apparent this becomes. And secondly, there was Big Daddy Kane and Melle Mel and Sugarhill Gang and Doug E. Fresh and Whodini and LL Cool J – “Kings of the Mic” – to see in this city, Friday.

The term “classic hip-hop” appears now to encompass the genuinely talented part of Friday’s show, while the less-talented part of Friday’s show, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, is from a later era discovered by trailblazers who, despite their collective greatness as performers, proved no better at spotting talent than Shane Mosley during his brief time as a Golden Boy Promotions partner. There was not a single oath spoken, sung or rapped in the opening four hours of Friday’s show, and then Bone Thugs-n-Harmony began its sloppy, pointless set, and one couldn’t escape from vulgarity – the word motherf**ker fairly creaking under the weight of a performance it now had to shoulder.

That is not some priggish commentary about family values, either; it’s an aesthetic criticism.

Today, consumers of hip-hop expect, proudly demand even, lyrics written between and a first- and third-grade reading level. It was not that way in the beginning. Big Daddy Kane’s lyrics resonate almost 30 years after one first hears them, and so do LL Cool J’s. The songs Public Enemy released before 1992 are more relevant to current events, 25 years later, than 90-percent of the garbage hip-hop has become since the fateful year Dr. Dre released “The Chronic.”

“Oh, but you don’t understand ‘the industry’ and ‘the branding’ and ‘what’s hot’ and . . .” – just stop it; no man wants to hear another man talk like a teenage girl.

In the short run, little in life finds its governance in a meritocracy, and the long run, by its very nature, rarely gets survived by what artists it promotes. May some sense of that continue to bring solace to both Timothy Bradley and Big Daddy Kane.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

CARSON, Calif. – Nothing is ever easy for Timothy Bradley.

Or predictable

In a career full of controversial decisions and crazy finishes, there was another wild ride for Bradley.

Bradley wound up winning a unanimous decision over Jessie Vargas Saturday. But it was in a 12-round fight that referee Pat Russell stopped about seven seconds before it was supposed to end and about five seconds after Bradley was rocked by a huge right hand.

Confusion reigned for a couple of minutes, Vargas thought Russell stopped it because Bradley was hurt and couldn’t continue. Vargas celebrated, thinking he had scored a huge upset. His corner men and friends jumped into the ring to celebrate with him. Meanwhile, Bradley appeared confused. He shook his head in disbelief at what looked to be a loss.

“I knew where I was at all times,’’ said Bradley, who stumbled backwards from an overhand right by Vargas. “I knew where I was at all times. All of sudden, the referee was waving his hands. I didn’t know what was going on.’’

Nobody did.

Turns out, Russell stopped the fight because he thought it was over.

“I thought I heard the bell,’’ Russell told HBO’s Max Kellerman in a chaotic scene at the center of the ring.
Maybe, Russell heard the 10-second warning and mistook it for the final bell. Or maybe he heard an inadvertent bell from somewhere in the StubHub crowd. Maybe, maybe, maybe. It’s only certain that he didn’t stop the fight because of what he saw in Bradley.

“I made the call based on what I heard,’’ Russell said.

That meant the fight went to the scorecards. All three favored Bradley. Judge Max DeLuca had it 116-112. Rocky Young scored it 117-111. On Kermit Bayless’ card, it was 115-112.

Finally, Bradley (32-1-1,12 KOs) could celebrate. In the sudden turn of events, however, there was only frustration for Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs).

“Those seven seconds cost me the fight,’’ he said.
He complained that he wasn’t allowed to finish Bradley. He was denied a triumphant finish, he said.

“Let me finish what I started,’’ he said to Bradley while asking for a rematch.
Okay, Bradley said.
No telling how crazy an encore might be.

Except for seven seconds, Bradley appeared to control the bout

Doubt appeared to creep into Vargas’ eyes as early as the second round. Bradley was applying pressure with muscle and authority. As the round ended, Vargas smiled at him. There was a question, perhaps a prayer, in that smile. It was as if Vargas couldn’t believe that Bradley could sustain the pace.

But he did at a punishing rate. Bradley repeatedly stepped inside Vargas’ four-inch advantage in reach, delivering blows to body and head with the thudding impact of that old jackhammer he swung around during an old-school training camp.

At the end of the fifth, Vargas found himself with his back on the ropes. He would be there again and again in a futile attempt to elude Bradley’s tireless pursuit. There was just nowhere else to go for Vargas in his first bout against a welterweight who is among the division elite.

Bradley was stronger and he knew it. By the seventh, there was a look of resignation instead of doubt on Vargas’ face. By the ninth, there was almost a look of dread. By the tenth, there was inevitability.

But, in the end, there was only chaos. Nothing for new for Bradley

Oscar Valdez down early, wins easily

If the prospect stage is about lessons, super-featherweight Oscar Valdez got one. Passed it, too. But it wasn’t the A-plus kind of grade that put Valdez at the top of the honor roll through his first 16 fights. More like a B-minus.

Ruben Tamayo, a fellow Mexican with a journeyman’s record (23-6-4, 15 KOs) surprised Valdez (17-0, 14 KOs) early with some thing of a pop quiz. Valdez, a two-time Olympian, was on the canvas in the first round.

It wasn’t exactly clear how he got there. Valdez appeared to get his feet tangled up after Tamayo knocked him off balance with a left. Maybe, he tripped. Maybe, Tamayo’s power put him there. Maybe, both.

Whatever it was, it was a momentary stunner.

Valdez looks surprised, even embarrassed. The good news is that he quickly recovered with a poised attack that included stinging jabs to the head and combos to the body. The bad news was that he couldn’t finish Tamayo, who was penalized a point in the seventh for a low blow. Still, it was enough for a 98-90, 99-90, 98-90 win on the scorecards.

Next lesson, please

On The Undercard
The Best: Providence featherweight Toka Khan Clary (16-0-0-1, 10 KOs) landed a huge hook at the end of the sixth round, dropping Colombian Jonathan Perez (33-12, 27 KOs) just as the bell sounded. It looked as if Perez never heard the bell. It also looked as if he had no clue at what hit him or even where he was. He was unconscious before he ever hit the canvas, knocked out at 2:59 of the sixth.

The Rest: Chicago welterweight Ed Brown (6-0, 6 KOs) scored a second-round knockout of Jose Maruffo (7-3-2,) of Phoenix. It was dull, but it was decisive as junior-welterweight Abraham Lopez (1-1) of Rowland Heights scored a unanimous decision over Mexican Joann Valenzuela (1-4-1, 1 KO). And Los Angeles featherweight Leonardo Chavez (4-1, 3 KOs) scored a second-round knockdown and was never threatened in winning a unanimous decision over Mexican Jair Quintero (4-5-2).

By Norm Frauenheim-

CARSON, Calif. – Timothy Bradley returns to a place that gave him headache. A career-defining victory, too.

This time, he plans to leave without the headache and only a victory over Jessie Vargas Saturday night (6:45 pm PST/9:45 pm EST on HBO) in a welterweight bout he hopes will hit the-re-set button for bigger things in his resilient career.

Still, Bradley can’t help but look around at the SubHub Center and wince at what he remembers of March 16, 2013 against Ruslan Provodnikov.

“Horrific,’’ Bradley said.

That was the night Bradley suffered a concussion, yet somehow survived to win a decision over Provodnikov in the 2013 Fight of the Year.

Ever since, Bradley has called the outdoor ring at StubHub “the War-Grounds.’’ Calling it a Center just doesn’t do justice to the battle that transpired more than two years ago.

Bradley isn’t seeking an encore. Who would? A solid decision over Vargas, a newcomer to the welterweight division’s elite ranks, would be enough and perhaps lead to bigger fights for bigger money at even a bigger weight. Bradley has even talked about middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

“I was small 140-pounder,’’ said Bradley, who was 146.4 pounds Friday at the weigh-in for the 147-pound bout. “I’m a small 147-pounder. I’d be a small 154-pounder. But, like I’ve been saying all along, I’ll fight anybody.’’

For now, that somebody is Vargas, who is finally getting the big fight he’s been seeking. Vargas, who has a four-inch advantage in reach, also was 146.4 pounds Friday.

The card, HBO’s Boxing 1000th telecast, will also feature super-featherweight prospect Oscar Valdez in his first appearance on the premium network. Valdez (15-0, 14 KOs), a two-time Mexican Olympian who went to school in Tucson, was 127.4 pounds Friday. He faces fellow Mexican Ruben Tamayo (25-5-4, 17 KOs). In his first trip to the scale Tamayo was 129, a pound over the contracted weight, 128. An hour later, Tamayo weighed 128.

Timothy Bradley 146.4 – Jessie Vargas 146.4
Oscar Valdez 127.4 – Ruben Tamayo 129